(Boston, MA) Herald gives antigun activists a win

[friendly_iconoclast]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2009/07/24/herald_to_stop_distributing_maine_catalog_that_has_guns_for_sale/

Herald gives antigun activists a win
Will stop distributing Maine catalog
By Vivian Nereim
Globe Correspondent / July 24, 2009

In Maine, Uncle Henry’s Swap or Sell it Guide is best known as a folksy compendium of thrift: a cheap way to buy puppies and snowmobiles directly from their owners. But in Boston’s inner-city neighborhoods, the classified ad catalog’s firearm section - a black-and-white list of AK-47s, Rugers, and Glocks - serves as another link in the illegal gun trafficking chain, according to community activists.

Next week, the pastel-colored booklets will begin to disappear from shelves in liquor stores and Stop & Shops in Roxbury and Dorchester. Under pressure from Citizens for Safety and other organizations, the Boston Herald decided yesterday to stop distributing the publication in the Boston area.

“Our relationship has been severed,’’ said Herald spokeswoman Gwen Gage. “There’s concern that firearms for sale in the book end up on the streets of Boston, and we didn’t want any part of that.’’

Most gun listings in Uncle Henry’s, which is based in Maine and distributed across New England, are placed by sellers from Maine and New Hampshire, where private firearm sales do not require background checks. The guide, public safety officials say, not only allows criminals to purchase guns that would be illegal here, but also allows them to circumvent Massachusetts’ much stricter gun-ownership requirements....

Too bad, I bought my assault Siamese through an ad when it was still the Want Advertiser. I guess those looking to bypass
the MA gun laws will be faced with the onerous task of reading the gun listings on the Uncle Henry's website.

Expect an uptick in the sales of Wi-Fi equipped netbooks when gunrunners figure out that web surfing through someone
elses' hotspot is damn near untracable...

[meegbear]

1. The Herald's a rightwing tabloid ...

if the liberal Boston Globe was doing that, the Herald would be bitchslapping 'em for days.

Go figure.

[pipoman]

2. Certainly the newspaper who is distributing

this has every right to quit distributing it. However if the actual publishers of the shopper decide to do their own distribution in Boston, there is probably nothing anyone can (or will) do about it. This is a case of the newspaper blinking on the insistence of an advocacy group(s).."Under pressure from Citizens for Safety and other organizations".

[oneshooter]

3. Strange thing is to direct sell a firearm

out of state requires the seller to ship to a FFL dealer. That is FEDERAL LAW. Has the BATF been notified and given any evidence that the law has been broken? If not then wouldn't the "community activists" be guilty of aiding and abetting a felony? That is IF they really have such evidence, and are not just blowing smoke out their ass.

Oneshooter
Livin in Texas

[eqfan592]

4. More likely...

...as I'm guessing you're thinking as well, is that the "community activists" have no actual evidence that this is taking place, but rather they just hate firearms and it made an easy target.

[iverglas]

5. I guess it would never occur to buyers ...

out of state requires the seller to ship to a FFL dealer. That is FEDERAL LAW.

... to drive to fucking Maine for their shopping. I've driven Boston to Maine. It isn't exactly the Great Trek.

One would almost think that the idea of someone buying a firearm in one state and removing it to another state - gasp, ILLEGALLY - had really never occurred to you. Almost.


Has the BATF been notified and given any evidence that the law has been broken? If not then wouldn't the "community activists" be guilty of aiding and abetting a felony?

Uh, yeah. Next time you see someone you suspect of driving drunk and you don't report it, you'd better watch out for the knock on the door.

Good lord. How can you even conceive of posting something so deeply stupid?